would be one and there would be no need for all this fierceness toward each other. But then I learned about pride and tradition and prophecy, and those things are harder than rock.Joomia and Aula are Chosen. They will never be normal. They can never be free.
On the last island on Erthe, Chosen Ones are destined to enter Ariadnis on the day they turn eighteen. There, they must undertake a mysterious and deadly challenge. For Joomia and Aula, this means competing against each other, to end the war that has seethed between their cities for nine generations.
As the day draws nearer, all thoughts are on the trial ahead. There's no space for friendship. No time for love. However much the girls might crave them.
But how you prepare for a task you know nothing certain about? Nothing, except that you must win, at whatever cost, or lose everything."
This book turned out to be nothing like what I was expecting it to be.
There is a lack of information at the start of the novel, unfortunately that was frustrating and I nearly stopped reading. I was confused about what exactly was happening, what the Wise One was, why there are Chosen Ones, where the past Chosen Ones are, why they were competing, for longer than I should have been. But soon enough the explanations start to roll in and the bizarre yet beautiful ideas behind Ariadnis come to the fore.
The writing itself is lovely; there is a touch of slang to give it character, the girls both have distinct voices and personalities, and Martin manages to utilise time skips really well. I personally really didn't like the slang at the beginning, I found it distracting. However Martin doesn't over use it and it actually helps demonstrate the difference between the two characters personalities.
The world building was interesting and incredibly unique. A vine treetop city, sentient owls, metal wrapped trees, prophets with shining tears, singing tree spells. I can truly say I haven't read anything that feels similar. The conflict is centred between a patriarchal, technology based city and a equalist, nature based city. I am interested to see how Martin will further explore this dynamic in his second book, as it is only lightly touched on here.
I also really enjoyed the diverse cast. There are many POC characters, actually being the norm now in the amalgamated cities where past cultures have ceased to be separate. There are also plenty of bisexual characters, and it is just treated as completely normal, which was so surprising and absolutely wonderful.
I thought the characters themselves were really nicely realised. The bold, impetuous Aula and the sensitive, unsure Joomia both stood out, and I loved their magical powers. Taurus was a great best friend and a moving character in his own right. Ade, the mad prophet was also one of my favourite characters and I loved her.
However there are a few minor criticism I'd level at this book. It did get confusing from time to time, especially when other characters' prophesies were revealed. There were a few times I had to dip back a few pages to check I was following what was going on! There are also quite a bit that is left unexplained like where are the past Chosen Ones. Where people really going mad when they left or was that a conspiracy? why was Ade the only Chosen one in her generation for both cities?
Also, I wasn't quite sure all the swearing was necessary as it didn't serve much purpose. The same goes for the amount of talk about sex. These girls are supposed to be 17 and it just felt incongruous. Everyone, even in the middle of an awful and emotional situation is thinking about sex. It just didn't feel realistic and actually brought me out the story a few times. There is one scene where Aula, one of the Chosen One's mother figure has just died, and all Aula can think about is how much she ones to sleep with this dude. I mean, your emotional loss obviously isn't that bad then and I no longer really empathize with you.
Age Rating 16+ Because of aforesaid sex and swearing.
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